Harry Potter and the Potion Master's Haunting
by Lady Demoonica Darkmoon
Summary: Takes place right after the last chapter of book seven, but before the epilogue. Will try to stay true to the books with one change. No pairings. Severus died, but is now stuck haunting his old job! What is Harry to do when he spends a year teaching?
1. Chapter 1

LDD: Hello all. I found a pair of plot bunnies hiding with the dust bunnies under my bed, so I thought I'd give the little things a proper home. The second one wont be posted until I finish the first, so it will be awhile. Enjoy! This story stars right after the last chapter of book seven, but before the epilog.

DISCLAIMER: The characters of Harry Potter are the property of J. K. Rowling and are used here without their creators' knowledge or permission. All other characters property of the author.

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Harry Potter and the Potion Master's Haunting

by

Lady Demoonica Darkmoon

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"Harry? Harry mate, are you all right?" Ron asked, shaking Harry out of his thoughts.

Harry blinked. All around them the sounds of joy over Voldemort's death were nearly deafening. "Yeah, yeah Ron. I just had this odd thought, that's all. I was imagining all of us, pared off in the future with kids and everything!"

Ron blanched. "I don't even want to think about having kids! Getting married? Kids? There goes any chance at still having any fun right there! We got to live a little Harry!"

Harry couldn't help himself, he laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're right, it's way to soon to be thinking about all that."

It was now that all the cheering in the great hall filled Harry's ears again. He was still standing in the crowd of witches and wizards who were congratulating him on his defeat of Voldemort. The dark lord was finally dead. He was gone, for good this time, with no way to chance his sad fate. Harry was finally the true hero everyone had been making him out to be from the moment he 'lived'. He was free of his life with the Dursley's, free of his fate (to die by Voldemort's hands), free of his destiny (to bring about the end of Voldemort's evil), and deep down he was free to be the person he wanted to be. Him. No longer did he have to fight against Voldemort. He didn't have to find Hallows or Horcruxes. He didn't have to save the wizarding world. Harry knew he should be happy, and he was. He was very, very happy. Though he also felt something else. Harry Potter felt very, very empty. He. Felt. Empty. The final battle with Voldemort was, to Harry at least, an empty victory. Everything had changed, and yet nothing had.

Harry looked at Voldemort's lifeless body, he felt angry and sad and overjoyed all at the same time, but just as soon as any one emotion found a hold on Harry's mind it was ripped away by this deeply empty feeling. Voldemort was gone, but all was not right in the world.

[Two years later...

Harry stood on platform 9 3/4 looking at the Hogwarts Express. "Hey Harry!" Hagrid called as he came over to the nineteen-year-old. "Or should I be callin' you Prof. Potter now?"

Harry hugged the giant of a man."Only the students have to call me that, Hagrid. Besides I only took the position for a year, they don't take Arour trainees until they are twenty-one."

"Oh, well I suppose so. I'll be seeing you then, looks like the first years are making their way off the train now. G'bye 'arry." Hagrid walked down the platform. "First year students, gather around!"

"Potter!"

Harry knew that voice. "That's Prof. Potter, Malfoy." He turned to face the former Slytherin.

Draco Malfoy smirked back. "That's Prof. Malfoy."

The two faced each other for a few moments and the older students, those who had bee in Hogwarts when both Harry and Draco were still students, were waiting for the hexes and curses to start flying.

"You haven't changed, still a greasy git." The words seemed harsh, but the tone was a teasing sort of manner. "Are you going for the Snape look? You're using enough hair oil."

"At least I don't look like I just woke up." Draco countered.

"Is this always going to be the way we greet each other?" Harry said while rolling his eyes.

Draco had started to make another snide comment, then Harry's words sank in. "It's old habit and everyone expects us to be a lot less than civil."

"It's been nearly two years, they'll get use to not seeing us jinxing each other. C'mon, if we miss the coaches we'll end up walking to our new jobs."

Draco nodded and walked alongside harry. "I'm teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, do you think the curse is gone now that-" Draco wave his hand. "Well, you know."

"Now that the dark lord is gone? "Harry offered. "I don't know, truthfully I didn't ever make the connection. Who would have guessed that the reason we never could keep a DADA professor was because Death Eaters had cursed the job."

Draco nodded again and got up into the coach. Harry followed. "What are you teaching then?"

"Muggle Studies and a new class for Muggle born or raised students called Practical Knowledge of the Wizarding World."

"Practical what?"

Harry laughed. "It's a class for students who weren't raised in a magical environment, most of them know as little about this world as magical born kids know about the Muggle world."

"Isn't that covered in Magical Studies and the History classes?"

"Not very well and not hands on, I'm planing to cover everything that magic borns take for granted because they've always been around it, Floo Powder for example and I'm sure they wonder about magical candy." Harry patted a small trunk."I've got an almost endless supply of Weasley products, so if any of your students suddenly get sick right before a test..."

"I'll be sure to take points from Gryffindor, no matter what house the student is from." Draco smirked.

Harry laughed, and was glad the coach had only him, Draco, and second year students who didn't know he or Draco personally. Anyone else would have been shocked at seeing them getting along.

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TBC...

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LDD: And yet again I post a new story, does any one want some plot bunnies, because mine are breeding like mad. Thank you for reading, please leave a review. 


	2. Chapter 2

LDD: Ah, note for anyone who is wondering. This will not have any kind of romance in it. Harry ends up with Ginny, or already is, just like in the books. I however do not like Ginny, so instead of portraying her character badly, she just isn't in the story. I also said I wouldn't change anything from cannon, so that means that I can't pair Harry up with another character. So if you are reading this hoping for DracoxHarry or SeverusxHarry, then I can say with 100 percent certainly that it wont happen in this story. I do however like both of those pairings and may write another story or two later.

Also, I can tell you readers this right now. After the conclusion of this story, there is another that will follow Severus. I think I've started another story plot line that will have it's own arc, with 'BishiWorld' being my first. So, 'Harry Potter and the Potion Master's Haunting' would be BOOK ONE, and 'Atropa Mandragora', that's the working title of the next story, would be BOOK TWO. Actually, I've got a few ideas for the next one after that, too, but it all depends on how I write the second one.

Let's see, do I have any warnings? Not really, though Harry and Draco have put their past problems with each other behind them, somewhat.

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Harry Potter and the Potion Master's Haunting

by

Lady Demoonica Darkmoon

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Severus Snape sighed again as he floated through the Hogwarts dungeons. He had been haunting the fairly empty castle since the final battle two years earlier. There had been people moving things out of the school, then workers who rebuilt the crumbled walls. Then people who came to recast all the charms, wards, and other enchantments. It had been busy, but not the same as a Hogwarts filled with students and teachers. Then came the people who brought back all the undamaged magical items that had been removed, along with some new ones to take the place of the ones that they had not been able to save. It looked like Hogwarts had been saved after all. Ah, the price of war though was great indeed.

Now Severus knew perfectly well that a new school year was about to start. The teaching staff had mostly arrived, though he didn't see any new faces. They couldn't have just done away with the Potions class, did they? No, impossible, Severus childed himself.

Severus floated through a wall and came out the other side, into the entrance hall of Hogwarts. He kept to the shadows, it would be nice to see the face of a frightened student but this was not the time. He paused as he noticed two figures he would have never thought he would see share the same space with out a fight breaking out. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were talking to each other, in a normal level of loud, considering they had to be able to hear each other over the few hundred students. Maybe he hadn't came back as a spirit after all and was in some form of Hell, there was no way those two were on speaking terms. Then again odder things had happened, he just couldn't think of any at the moment.

The entrance hall emptied soon enough and still Severus had not seen his replacement. Had he? Had he not? Did he just not notice? He realized he was questioning himself too much, he didn't have the answers and it would do no good.

The doors suddenly swung open as if caught by a strong gust of wind. Oh, it had been a strong gust of wind. When had it started raining outside? A small figure squeaked and grabbed at the door, attempting to keep it from banging loudly against the stone wall again.

"Frig! Frig, frig, frig, and double frig!" A soft, high voice cursed. Given that and the persons small stature, Severus was correct in guessing that the person was female. She looked like a late student.

"You're late." Severus' loud voice boomed against the walls in the same manner the doors had.

The girl jumped and let out a startled yelp. After seeing Severus hovering just within the range of a candles light she sighed. "Oh, it's just a spirit." She pushed the door shut, grabbing something that was sitting just outside moments before it was fully closed. She turned again to face the doors to the Great Hall, all of the students had long since gone in, including the first years. In her hands was clutched a black traveling bag. She looked around for a moment then lifted the hood of her cloak off of her head.

Black hair spilled out of the pushed back hood of her cloak, a traditional 'Witches' Stripe' of white hair stood out just at her temple. Her eyes were dark, their color lost in the dim candle light. What was surely her wand was tucked into her hair just above her right ear.

"I'm sorry for being late." She said, she had to be talking to Severus, there was no one else there. "But the floo was crowded and I was behind as it was, I haven't missed the feast have I?"

Severus blinked at the girl, no, the woman. She'd flooed in, then she couldn't be a student. That meant... Oh, bloody hell, no. He had not been replaced by some fresh from her apprenticeship school girl! With a growl Severus whirled around, his ghostly robes billowing in the same manor they had in life and he disappeared though the wall. The young woman stood there blinking.

"What'd I say?" She asked the empty entrance hall.

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Solstice had thought that being offered the position of Hogwarts potions teacher was the best thing to happen in her twenty-five years of life, after all there were much older choices for the job and in her opinion that meant they had much more experience. Then she'd gotten to Hogwarts and it was just as wonderful as she had thought it would be. She'd arrived the same night as the students, she had came by floo to Hogsmead first, then walked in the down pour of rain to the castle. She'd been delayed and was unable to come by train, but it wasn't a bother, she was rather glad that she didn't have to put up with her students before they knew she was their teacher. That way she didn't have to answer the same questions twenty million times, no she'd only have to do it fourteen times. Twice for each year, maybe less if the sixth and seventh year classes were small enough for all four houses to be taught together. Maybe she would only have to answer twelve rounds of questions.

"You stupid girl, why are you just siting there and gazing at your reflection? You have a class to teach!" Severus snapped, having spent the last ten minutes hovering near the new potions teacher as she seemed to zone out infront of her mirror. "It's the first one of the year. You're suppose to make an impression!"

Solstice jumped at the sound of the ghost's voice. Ah, yes, that was the reason for Solstice's thoughts. This would have been the best thing to happen in her twenty-five years of life, if it hadn't turned out that the position was haunted by the last teacher, one Severus Tobais Snape.

"Do you have to yell in my ear?"

Severus crossed his arms and looked down his hooked nose at the young woman. "I will do whatever I see fit."

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TBC...

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LDD: So, I didn't want to say it at the top but waited so you could read her introduction, this does have an OFC, original female character, in it. Solstice Wicabroom, I like the name, what about you? She's the 'me' of this story, though I'm sure you could guess that. For those of you who are worried about her being a Mary Sue, don't be. While her name in unusual, she's just your normal Potions Prof. Someone had to take Prof. Snape's position and I thought it would be funny if a young woman had to put up with the snarky ghost haunting her class. How would you feel if you got your first job only to find out that the person who had it before you was looking over your shoulder and commenting on everything you are doing wrong?

Thank you for reading, please leave a review. 


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